State lawmakers approved legislation to ensure greater oversight for Alaska youth in psychiatric facilities, including increased protections for foster youth.
One bill would accelerate the deadline for foster youth to receive court hearings after being institutionalized and another would increase reporting requirements for youth in psychiatric institutions, among other provisions.
Lawmakers approved a bill that would shorten the deadline for court hearings for foster youth from 30 days to seven days of being admitted, following high-profile news reports, lawsuits and federal investigations around foster youth languishing for weeks, or even years, in psychiatric facilities.
The bill requires youth to have a court appointed attorney, and to have subsequent case reviews by the court every 30 days.
The Alaska House passed House Bill 36 unanimously last year, and the Senate approved the proposal on May 16 by a vote of 19 to 1. The bill now moves to Gov. Mike Dunleavy for consideration.
Sen. Forrest Dunbar, D-Anchorage, sponsored the legislation in the Senate and called the legislation part of an effort to address a dark chapter in Alaska history.
“For too long, these placements have occurred with insufficient oversight, limited recourse for the children involved and inadequate advocacy on their behalf,” he said. “House Bill 36 helps ensure meaningful due process protections for those in foster care.”
The issue was at the center of a lawsuit, Kwinhagak v. State, which reached the Alaska Supreme Court. It focused on the case of a 14-year-old Alaska Native foster youth from Sitka who was hospitalized in North Star Behavioral Health in Anchorage and went 46 days before a court held a hearing on her hospitalization. In 2024, the Supreme Court ruled the time was “far too long to satisfy due process.”
The bill also creates a new state license for treatment foster homes, to provide treatment services through Medicaid for youth with medical, behavioral or developmental conditions. Proponents of the bill said it would help create more home-based care, and align with national standards.
Another bill unanimously passed by the Senate on May 16, House Bill 52, would enact requirements that aim to increase oversight and transparency, and reduce risk of abuse or neglect for all Alaska children in psychiatric facilities. The House approved the bill in April.
The legislation — now also on Dunleavy’s desk — would require all Alaska minors in psychiatric facilities have access to confidential communication with parents or legal guardians for two hours per week. The facility must facilitate that communication.
The bill would require the Alaska Department of Health to conduct unannounced inspections of psychiatric facilities in the state twice a year, including interviews with at least half of the minor patients, and make an annual report to the Legislature.
All facilities would be required to report their use of seclusion or restraints on minors — including physical, mechanical or chemical restraints — to the state each year, and to minors’ parents or legal guardians within 72 hours. “Chemical restraint” would be defined in the law as a medication used to control the behavior or restrict the freedom of a patient, not a medication used to treat an underlying psychiatric illness.
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